Versa: Issue One

7
AN
EVENING
WITH…
Mitchell
Zhangazha
We were delighted to welcome back Mitchell
Zhangazha (OA 2013) on Thursday 5th October
for one of our ‘An Evening with…’ events. West
End actor Mitchell kicked off the evening with a
fascinating discussion about his career, followed by
a Q&A session hosted by Danny Swanson (Drama)
on his experiences working in theatre, including
the West End productions of Thriller Live!, Peter
Pan, Oliver!, The Lion King and Chitty Chitty Bang
Bang. Mitchell also treated us to some stunning
vocals and sang ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ by
Stevie Wonder, ‘Who’s Lovin’ You’ by Jackson Five
and ‘Reet Petite’ by Jackie Wilson. Mitchell has
acted in the West End since the age of seven and is
making an excellent start to his professional career,
having recently taken a lead role in the Edinburgh
production of Five Guys Named Moe. We look
forward to following his career in the future!
Read more about this event on the School side of
the magazine.
OA DINNER
A big thanks goes to all of the OAs who joined us for the OA
Dinner on Friday 22nd September. It was a great success and
one of our biggest OA Dinner turnouts!
The evening started with optional School tours, a drinks
reception with prosecco and culminated with a two-course
Steak & Guinness pie dinner and a lemon mousse to finish.
With around 100 people in attendance, tables were organised
chronologically by year group and we were able to reunite
many OAs with old friends. It was a walk through time and a
great chance to not only reminisce with contemporaries, but
also a chance to meet OAs from other years and see how the
School has changed over time.
MILL HILL
v
St Albans 1st XV
We were delighted to see a great OA turnout on Friday
15th September for one of the first big rugby fixtures of
the term – St Albans School 1st XV v Mill Hill. As we had
brought in floodlights for the occasion, OAs were able to
meet in the School Pavilion and enjoy a bar and bacon and
sausage butties, whilst watching a great game. SAS won the
match 17-7 so it was a great end to a successful evening!
We hope to invite more OAs back to Woollams for
future matches so please keep an eye on your emails
and social media.
Alan Philpott (OA 1962) brought in a long-lost piece of St
Albans School history; an old toy bear sporting a St Albans
School uniform, owned by Paul Gismondi (OA 1970). The
bear was Paul’s mascot during his School days, and his mother
created the kit out of an old scarf and badge.
Mike Hodge (OA President) gave one of his famous speeches
at the end of the Dinner and paid the OA Club’s ‘annual fee’ of
one peppercorn to the Headmaster.
We were pleased to launch our new book, Inspiring Old
Albanians, at the Dinner which proved a great success –
selling out of all of the stock on the table! If you would like to
buy a copy, please take a look at page 15 for details on how to
purchase merchandise.
We hope that next year’s OA Dinner will be equally successful
and you should expect to hear from us in August 2018 with
news of the next theme!